CT Lifestyle

HomeArchive "CT Lifestyle"

Plenty to Do in Connecticut
Food and drink entrepreneurs and arts and culture organizations are key players in Connecticut’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Share your story with us.

CT Lifestyle Posts

Hartford Startup Brewers: Hanging Hills Brewing Company

November 11 2016 Innovation Destination: Hartford At the CT Table 0 comments Tags: beer, brewery, Connecticut, Hartford, small business, startup entrepreneur

Joe Ploof is an entrepreneur at heart—and a beer lover by nature. In 2009, encouraged by a close friend, Ploof decided to pursue his dream of opening a brewery and working for himself.

Innovation Destination Hartford Website Curator Nan Price toured Hanging Hills Brewing Company and talked with Ploof about how the brewery idea began and some of the challenges to launching a startup.

PRICE: Why launch a startup brewery?

Joe Ploof (right) and Brian Cox (left) Co-Founders of Hanging Hills Brewery.

Joe Ploof (right) and Brian Cox (left) Co-Founders of Hanging Hills Brewery.

PLOOF: I love craft beer and I love this industry. But also, I wanted to start a business. I didn’t want to work for anyone else.

And that adage: Only the self-employed individual will work 18 hours for himself so he doesn’t have to work 8 hours for somebody else makes way more sense when you actually do it.

PRICE: So the brewery was basically your idea. At what point did you bring in the other founders Brian Cox and Scott Stauffer?

PLOOF: Yes. I wanted to launch the startup independent of knowing Brian and Scott. But as time wore on, it was pretty apparent I’d need some help.

Brian and I went to beer school together at the American Brewers Guild back in 2009. When we met, we immediately clicked and realized our personalities would jive well enough to open our own business.

A mutual connection of Scott and mine introduced the three of us in April 2014. Scott brought to the table a business acumen that I lacked as a former teacher. Brian had been a process metallurgist at a steel producing facility. Both of us knew how to make beer. Brian knows tools and I have an idea about marketing, but neither of us had the wherewithal to be organized in a business sense. Scott, having worked at Aetna as a small project manager as well as Vice President Operations over at C.M. Smith, brought that level of expertise we just didn’t have.

Scott looked at the business plan Brian and I had been working on and made it more viable. He liked the numbers, he liked the bones of it, but he knew how to pitch it to people with money.

PRICE: Let’s talk about funding. You have a Kickstarter campaign, right?

PLOOF: Yes, we did Kickstarter we were fully funded. We used that money to put some really nice features into our tasting room, like the bar top and the lighting. Otherwise it was going to be much more generic. But we had enough to install the brew house.

We did two types of investments. We used private equity, which was about two thirds of our total raise. And then we did $100,000 loan from the Hartford Economic Development Corporation (HEDCO), which also gave us $100,000 line of credit.

PRICE: Let’s talk location. Why Hartford?

PLOOF: We started thinking about location back in 2012. We did some research and, at that time, the Connecticut beer scene was vastly underserved. In 2012 there may have been 15 breweries in the state, and six are seven of them were small nanobreweries.

We saw that Connecticut was underserved and I really like Hartford. Having lived in Portland, OR and Brooklyn, NY—two epicenters of cool—it was neat to come somewhere that didn’t have it all in one place.

In Hartford, you have to go searching for it. You sort of lift under rocks and you find the Hartford Denim Company or you knock on doors and you end up at Hartford Prints! or discover Colt Park is a really nice place to walk. We just bought a house in the West End, which is gorgeous.

So, it seemed like Hartford needed a brewery space—and this was before I knew Ben Braddock was going to open up Hog River Brewing Company, which is over in Parkville.

City Steam is here in Hartford I know they package their beer, but they are better known as a brewpub. And we wanted to be Hartford’s production facility. That’s kind of what we had in mind.

We also wanted to be a part of a slow-growing, cool movement. We hope that we can bring some level of expertise about craft beer to Connecticut.

PRICE: Hanging Hills Brewery opened in July, so it’s still relatively new. How are you getting the word out?

PLOOF: It’s funny, every weekend someone comes in here says: I didn’t even know you guys were here. But then, on the flipside, we had about 2,000 people combined show up between our two soft openings and our opening day.

There was a buzz. People knew we were opening. We had done a couple of events at Hartford Prints! We did a tasting at their Valentine’s Day event and we also launched our Kickstarter there. So people knew about us.

In most places, beer scene people have their fingers on the pulse and know when new breweries are opening.

PRICE: I’ve heard that before—people who want to know are in-the-know.

PLOOF: Right. And with Brian’s experience as the head brewer at Bluegrass Brewing and my experience as the assistant brewer at Back East Brewing Company and head brewer at the Cambridge House Brew Pub, people knew us from the scene. That helped a lot. And they knew we could produce quality beers, so that helped too.

Since opening, we have been heavy on the social media, because most of it is free. And we’ve run a couple of ads here and there. Scott has invested in ad space at Goodwin Park and we might run an ad in CTNOW.

We also created a video to tell our story:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAuyehuFT3Q&feature=youtu.be

Really we’re trying to just make awesome beer. It’s been a very organic growth. It hasn’t been Tree House Brewing Company explosive, but the response has been really good so far.

PRICE: I’m going to quote from your website, “We are stewards of this community and will strive to support community organizations and agencies that share our ideals.” In what ways are you doing that?

PLOOF: I’m glad you asked that. Being a former teacher and a former Gay-Straight Alliance counselor, I wanted to partner up with a local LGBTQ mentoring group.

We released our Pride Pils pilsner and we’re donating a percentage of the proceeds to True Colors, which is a Hartford-based mentoring group for LGBTQ teenagers.

So that’s a start. We’ve also had Hartford Hot Several here and we’re featuring local band The Island of Doubt the night before Thanksgiving and later in December. We want to kind of be a music venue as well as civically minded company.

We also recognize our responsibility to the environment. To that end, we try to use locally sourced ingredients as much as possible. We brewed a beer with hops from Morris, CT, and barley grown in the Pioneer Valley. Using locally sourced ingredients reduces our carbon footprint and helps us support the local business community.

hanging_hills_beerPRICE: How is distribution?

PLOOF: We work with G & G Beverage Distributors to distribute in Fairfield and New Haven counties—we wanted to give the local accounts our attention. We recently signed with Craft Connecticut, so our beer is now available statewide. We opted to self-distribute in Hartford.

PRICE: What are the future goals?

PLOOF: We want to buy a canning line. We need to buy more stainless steel for the back and get another fermenter or two. A delivery van would be awesome. That’s the business side of things.

Ultimately we would like to be a New England regional brewery. We’d like to have a footprint up to Maine and then possibly as far south as Northern Jersey. And then sort of cap our growth at a certain level so we don’t have to take on more debt.

We have big ideas, but we also want to be normal people. We don’t want to have it too explosive.

PRICE: On that note, what have been the biggest challenges as a startup?

PLOOF: First and foremost, I would say opening up minds of the bar owners here in Hartford is a tougher nut to crack than more receptive markets. And the distributors in Hartford County have a lockdown on taps. Not having a distributor presents a challenge too, because people will only deal with distributors. A lot of people don’t want to deal with self-distribution.

Figuring out who we are as a company and controlling that narrative is another challenge, because my brain fires on a lot of different ideas. Brian is the same way. He’s always thinking and we’re always trying to figure out: Does it fit with what we’re trying to do?

So controlling that so that people know what to expect from us is really important to us. Trying to create a self-aware image.

Other than that, I think just getting people to know that we’re here has been a challenge.

PRICE: Any advice for people who are launching breweries?

PLOOF: It’s not going to be easy. You’re going to have a lot of stress every single day and the results don’t immediately show themselves.

Don’t compare yourself to successful brewing companies, like Tree House Brewing. Initially we fell under the spell of comparing ourselves to Tree House’s model of opening your doors and selling every drop of beer in the house.

It’s not a fair comparison. Those guys caught lightning in a bottle. They had a great story and great beer and word-of-mouth flew, and that was awesome for them. But if you compare yourself to them, you’re not going to be happy with the results.

The big thing is just make the best beer you know how to and the rest will come.

Learn more about Hanging Hills Brewery

VISIT: www.hanginghillsbrewery.com
FOLLOW: Facebook | Instagram |  Twitter

More
1944

CT Startup Brewing Company: Powder Hollow Brewery

October 14 2016 Innovation Destination: Hartford At the CT Table 0 comments Tags: brewery, Connecticut, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship, small business, startup

Michael McManus is Owner of Powder Hollow Brewery, a startup brewing company in Enfield, CT.

Michael McManus is Owner of Powder Hollow Brewery, a startup brewing company in Enfield, CT.

Innovation Destination Hartford Website Curator Nan Price met with Michael McManus, Owner of Powder Hollow Brewery, to find out how he turned a homebrewing hobby into a successful Connecticut brewery.

PRICE: Most breweries start with a homebrewing story. Did yours start that way too?

McMANUS: As a child I remember my grandfather always made wine at home. When I was a little older and I was in college, I enjoyed beer more than wine and I thought: Wouldn’t it be really cool if I tried making my own? I bought a homebrew kit, bought every book I could, and just really ran with it as a hobby.

PRICE: How did the hobby become a business idea?

McMANUS: When I graduated college, I got an awesome job at this huge engineering firm in Baltimore, MD. On day one I said: This is not going to work out. Immediately, I went home, started planning, and decided to open my own business.

PRICE: At what point did you realize your beer was truly marketable?

McMANUS: I was in college when I started brewing and of course all of my friends thought my beer was great. A few years after that, when I was still in Baltimore working as an engineer, that’s when I decided: All right, if this is truly going to happen then the product needs to be perfect.

I would invite my friends over and tell them they could drink as much free beer as they wanted. But I wanted an honest opinion, so I created a blind taste test—basically set up a bunch of different beers that made by professional brewers and me. I had people choose which one they liked so I would know if they were truly telling me whether it was good or not.

When I first started it was 50/50 my beer versus others. I kept brewing and brewing until more than 300 batches in everyone started picking mine every time. That’s when I saw that my homebrewing had gotten to the point where I could actually do something with it and I started raising the capitol to build a brewery.

PRICE: How did you fund the startup once you decided to launch?

McMANUS: I funded most of it myself and then I came up with a return program that I offered to other businesses in the area. About four restaurants gave me capital to help me get started. So I remain 100% owner in the company and the restaurants that invested basically get a percentage returned until their loan is paid back. This way it’s more of a business loan that’s not through a bank and the restaurants know it depends on the business succeeding. They pretty much invested in me, not the company.

PRICE: Where did you get that kind of business background?

McMANUS: I think it was always kind of in me. The way I think just makes sense for business.

But I also had some training in college. I went to a very small school in Vermont. One of the biggest things it takes pride in is teaching you that you can do it on your own. So I took a lot of business classes and financial classes and a lot of classes that taught you that you don’t need to depend on others, you can do it for yourself.

PRICE: It seems like that kind of shaped your business and entrepreneurial mind.

McMANUS: Absolutely.

PRICE: Did you work on generating a buzz before you opened?

McMANUS: The day the town of Enfield approved my location is the day I made all my social media. I put the word out about who we were, what we were going to do, and where we were going to be. Within two weeks we had more than 3,000 followers.

Social media is a huge bonus for anyone starting out. You can get people to know who you are and what you’re going to do before you even break ground. And that’s something we really couldn’t do on a budget 20 years ago.

powder_hollow_sign2PRICE: Powder Hollow Brewery opened in 2014. Tell us about the growth and business reach.

McMANUS: The first eight months we only operated in our tap room. People came, sampled the beer, and bought their pints and growlers to take home. Before we started, I knew I wanted to do distribution. I wanted to be able to have our tap room and send beer out throughout all the different restaurants and liquor stores. However, before we did that, I wanted to ensure that our product was proper and we didn’t bite off more than we could chew.

PRICE: Your beer is available in dozens of liquor stores and restaurants.

McMANUS: We’re in about 200 locations right now.

PRICE: And those are all in Connecticut?

McMANUS: Yes. All in Connecticut.

PRICE: Do you plan to expand out of the state?

McMANUS: We can barely keep up in Connecticut! But the master plan would be to go as far as we can.

We’ve gone from a team of three people to 15 people—and we are family here, so why wouldn’t I want to extend it out, hire on more people, and go out as far as we can?

If you look at the bigger breweries, like Dogfish Head Brewery, you can see how they grew and built their team and how they operate. That’s exactly what I want. I want to have this huge team under us where everyone works together and we can just do our thing.

PRICE: The brewery does a lot of local collaboration. Are you finding that’s helpful for marketing?

McMANUS: If we’re going to sell our product to a restaurant, why not work with that restaurant? We certainly didn’t come up with the idea of working with restaurants in the brewery, it’s just a perfect fit. We like to make beer. We don’t want to make food. Why not let the people who love making food showcase what they do in our location? It’s the exact same concept, the restaurants basically bring in an outside product and sell it. So we’re just kind of reversing the roles and working together.

PRICE: We talked a little bit about the future. Do you have a two- to five-year forecast?

McMANUS: It’s very difficult to have that kind of forecast with a brewery. Some breweries operate the way they are, and that’s great. And other breweries are in a never-ending expansion—and thankfully we’re in that never-ending expansion.

From day one, every penny we were making we were saving up for a bigger brewing equipment. We went from an 80-gallon brewing system to a 300-gallon brewing system in the first eight months we were opened. Right after that we immediately saved up and bought a canning line. Right after that we immediately saved up and bought a bigger fermenter—because with the amount of cans we were selling, we couldn’t keep up anymore.

So the two- to five-year year plan is in my head, but it’s always happening faster then you’re prepared, which is great. It’s a lot to manage this much growth so quickly.

PRICE: How do you deal with those challenges?

McMANUS: You take a deep breath, take a step back, look at all your options, and see which one works best for the company. Do we want to invest $50,000 in new tanks? Or do we want to invest in new equipment? Or do we want to hold back and have a bigger safety net for ourselves?

When you really look at your business as a financial engine, not just a brewery, it’s easy to make those decisions. You can say: Well, in an average month we can spend x dollars on grain, we can spend x dollars on hops and growlers and glassware. So in the worst case scenario how much money could I spend in one month? You better double that and keep that as your safety net. If there’s one month that I could potentially spend $50,000 because the hoodies, t-shirts, and glassware ran out, you have to have all of that. Because if not, 15 people don’t have a job anymore.

So when you just look at it as numbers, it’s much easier to make those decisions and say we’re ready to buy this now because there’s excess money in the company, or we are not ready because what if it’s not worth it?

PRICE: Any additional advice for those starting out?

McMANUS: The biggest message I can give to people who want to start something up is: You can do it on your own. You don’t have to hire lawyers to file your paperwork, you don’t have to go through the state’s process, and you can do it however you want to. I was 24 when I did it and it’s only been two years, but two years is a long time when so many businesses fail in their first few months.

PRICE: Do you plan to you enter any beer competitions?

McMANUS: I love the community of beer. I don’t send our beers out because I’m not into that type of competition. If I put a beer in front of someone and they love it, they love that moment and that brew right then and there, I don’t need a gold medal to tell me that.

To learn more about Powder Hollow Brewery, visit powderhollowbrewery.com.

More
1757

CT Startup Brewery: Black Hog Brewing

September 27 2016 Innovation Destination: Hartford At the CT Table 0 comments Tags: Black Hog Brewing, brewery, Connecticut, CT, innovation, small business, startup

Tom Sobocinski, Co-Owner at Black Hog Brewing told Innovation Destination Hartford about how the brewery got started, its plans for the future, and the importance of innovation.

IDH: How did the business get started?

bhb_draughtSOBOCINSKI: The idea for Black Hog Brewing was started in the fall of 2013 when some family friends connected on food and brewing. Brewmaster Tyler Jones was brewing at Portsmouth Brewery in New Hampshire while my brother Jason and I were operating a restaurant and bar in New Haven, CT.

I was very interested in the industry and would often chat with Tyler about home brewing. With a baby on the way, Tyler and his wife Racheal (The Ginga Ninja) decided to move to Connecticut. After a bit of planning, Black Hog Brewing was born. We were fortunate to find a brewery for sale in Oxford, CT and we started brewing in May of 2014.

IDH: Tell us about the startup’s growth and business reach.

SOBOCINSKI: Black Hog Brewing has a 15-barrel brewery system and currently 5 × 30 barrel fermenters, with two more 60-barrel tanks on the way. In just about two years we now distribute to five states including Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island.

IDH: Why Connecticut?

SOBOCINSKI: Jason and I were born and raised in New Haven, CT along with Racheal, who is from North Haven. We all have family and roots in the state and also felt that Connecticut needed some good craft beer. Several more breweries have opened since we did and we feel that the Connecticut beer scene has come a very long way, but still has plenty of room for growth.

IDH: Where do you see Black Hog Brewing in the next three to five years?

bhb_cansSOBOCINSKI: We want to continue to grow and want Black Hog to be a brand found in every bar in Connecticut. We plan to continue growing and producing our core ales (Easy Rye’ Da, Ginga Ninja, Granola Brown, and Nitro Coffee Milk Stout) while also producing more specialty products and series. We want to continue focusing on Connecticut ingredients as often as possible while producing very fun and well balanced ales.

IDH: What is the best business advice you’ve given or received?

SOBOCINSKI: I think it’s important in any business to always continue to innovate and try new things while maintaining great quality and good customer service as the number one priority. It’s very important to us that every batch of Black Hog beer that leaves our loading dock is perfect because every drop of beer represents who we are.

Learn more about Black Hog Brewing at blackhogbrewing.com.

More
1760

Entrepreneur Brewers: Labyrinth Brewing Company

September 15 2016 Innovation Destination: Hartford At the CT Table 0 comments Tags: brewery, Connecticut, CT, economic growth, entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, Labyrinth Brewing, Manchester, startup

Labyrinth Brewing Company founders Sean Gaura, Chris Walnum, and Adam Delaura (left to right).

Labyrinth Brewing Company founders Sean Gaura, Chris Walnum, and Adam Delaura (left to right).

Childhood friends Adam Delaura, Sean Gaura, and Chris Walnum have always been driven to do something entrepreneurial. Last year, the three took their love of homebrewing and decided to launch Labyrinth Brewing Company.

Innovation Destination Hartford Website Curator Nan Price spoke with Co-Owner and Head of Marketing Adam Delaura about the startup brewery’s plans.

PRICE: How did the three of you decide to open a brewery?

DELAURA: About five years ago, Chris started a homebrew club where people could hang out in his garage and learn how to brew beer.

The three of us and the other members of the club started working on beers and winning awards at regional competitions. Then about a year ago, Chris, Sean, and I started talking about brewing beer professionally.

The climate for craft beer is all the rage now. We thought: if we’re going to do it, this is the time. We started doing some research to figure out what it would take, how much money we would need, and how to make it happen. And now we’re just going at it full steam.

PRICE: You signed a lease in at the end of July. When do you anticipate you’ll actually open?

DELAURA: We’re hoping for the spring of 2017. That should give us enough time to hash out all the regulations, build our tap room, and get our equipment delivered and installed.

PRICE: Let’s talk about the space. Why Manchester?

DELAURA: The craft beer industry is very local. We are all from Manchester. What better location then somewhere inside the town of Manchester where we grew up? We figured let’s start here because we have a connection. If we’re going to provide a couple of jobs and foot traffic, it may as well be in the town we’re from.

This is going to be a smaller brewery, so our focus is going to be very local. Some of the larger breweries push a lot of distribution. They want to put their beer in every package store and restaurant on the planet. That’s not our business model. We’re going to be depending on people to actually come into our location, drink our beer, put it in growlers, and go.

PRICE: So you’re not planning to distribute your beer in the beginning?

DELAURA: We’ll do very limited distribution. And the distribution we do will be kegs to restaurants, but it will be more of a marketing thing so people will see the name and ask: Where do I get more of this?

PRICE: What makes Labyrinth Brewing unique?

DELAURA: I would say our tasting panel. One of the parts of our business plan is that we have a tasting panel of 13 independent humans who include national beer judges from the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP), restaurant managers, bar managers, bartenders, people who work at other breweries, homebrewers, and a couple of average Joes. Once we brew our beer, we bottle it up and send it to all of them with a BJCP scoresheet. They fill it out and we use their feedback.

Another thing that makes us unique is our commitment to quality control. We are planning to build a lab in the brewery we can use to measure things like the exact yeast count. We’re going to measure the particular salts and minerals in the water so we can build a specific water profile. You’ve got to have awesome water if you’re going to have awesome beer.

PRICE: So, I have to ask: Who is the nerd? Whose idea was that?

DELAURA: That was definitely Sean. Every time I see him, he’s got his nose in some sort of chemistry book.

PRICE: Did you use any local resources to launch the startup?

DELAURA: The resources we used in the very beginning were the public library and SCORE. I work at a public library, so I asked some librarians who specialize in business resources to help me collect some demographic information, such as: How many breweries are there in Connecticut? What size output do they have? How much revenue are they making? How many employees do they have?

I wanted to learn all this basic stuff because we knew how to make beer, but we didn’t know how to launch a brewery.

The three of us attended an all-day business seminar at SCORE that walked us through some very basic things, like this is what a business plan looks like—we ended up spending 300+ hours on the business plan.

We also talked to some people we know who have successfully run businesses and successfully run breweries to find out if our business plan looked like it made any sense.

Every time we contacted people who work in breweries 100% of them were completely willing to share with us. They told us: Here’s what we wish we had done. This is how we did it. Don’t buy this equipment. Buy that equipment.

PRICE: I’ve heard that a lot—that there’s a lot of collaboration in the startup brewing industry.

DELAURA: It’s true! In the beginning we asked: Do you want to come on as a consultant? Can we compensate you? Hands-down, everyone told us: Don’t worry about it, just pass it on when the next guy comes to you and asks for help to launch a brewery.

And we can all use help, because most of us know about beer, but how do you get a brewery off the ground?

PRICE: Speaking of which, what have been the biggest challenges?

DELAURA: I would say regulations and laws. There are local zoning regulations and laws about what you can and can’t do, state regulations, and then the federal government.

Breweries have to appeal to all of those laws and they don’t all make sense. Sometimes they seem like they conflict. That’s the most confusing part, understanding what the requirements are because many times they are vague. So far, that’s been the biggest challenge.

PRICE: With regard to your business plan, have you outlined any long-term goals?

DELAURA: Initially I mentioned we weren’t thinking about doing any distribution. We are hoping after the first or second year we’ll be able to do a little more distribution with canning or bottling. We are planning to do some limited bottles, most of that’s going to be manually filling the bottles and capping them. Those will be specialty releases.

Within a year or two we also want to have a canning line so when people come to the brewery they can grab a pint and maybe take a four- or six-pack home with them.

After that, ultimately, it would be great if we could open a second location. That may be five or 10 years down the road. Who knows where the marketplace will be then? But we’ve been kicking around the idea of taking the local model we have and opening it up somewhere else.

PRICE: Would you stay in Connecticut?

DELAURA: Yes. We’d like to continue the model of a small, local connection. Whether that’s us helping someone else get another brewery open, so we invest and have a piece of that or we go out and build another site. We haven’t quite decided yet. We’re really focused on opening this first.

PRICE: That makes sense. What would you say is the best advice you’ve either given or received?

DELAURA: Don’t worry about where the money is coming from.

The first version of our business plan was so paired down, we all wondered: How much money can we afford to borrow? How much do we have to put in? Who is going to invest in us?

Our first handful of meetings with investors didn’t go so smoothly, but we refined our presentation and they started to go better.

At the very beginning we were so focused on the money and where it was coming from. Then after a while it was like, let’s just build the brewery we want to build and then we’ll worry about where the money is going to come from later.

We changed the business plan to do that and I think things have gone a lot smoother since then.

PRICE: Do you think that took a lot of pressure off?

DELAURA: Absolutely, because we were worried about starting as a smaller brew house—then you have to brew more often. To be profitable, we’d have to brew around the clock seven days a week. Who is going to do that? And how would we maintain consistency and quality in the beer?

Instead we decided we’re going to go a little larger. And now we don’t have to work around the clock, losing sleeping and potentially messing stuff up.

PRICE: You emphasize the importance of being local. In what ways do you plan to involve the community?

DELAURA: One of the things we’re planning to do is to have an art gallery in the tap room—we’ll start by featuring some art the owner of our building has created. The downtown local Manchester area has an up-and-coming artsy scene that’s building. We want to help draw people into that.

Another way we’re focusing on community is that we’re trying to source as many of our ingredients locally as possible. It’s a lot harder than you think. Breweries need lots of grains.

But even something as simple as our coasters, we want to find a local place to print them.

Also, we’re trying to find local farmers who can use all of our byproducts, mostly our spent grains. A lot of pig farmers like to mix it in with feed. We don’t charge them for it. It saves them money on the feed and maybe I get a pig roast out of it!

Learn more about Labyrinth Brewing Company at http://labyrinthbrewingcompany.com.

More
2914

Hartford Food Entrepreneurs Are On a Sandwich Revolution

August 22 2016 Innovation Destination: Hartford At the CT Table 0 comments Tags: Connecticut, entrepreneur, Hartford, startup, Toasted

“Success is having people who work for you feel satisfied and happy to come to work,” says Toasted Co-Owner Debra Raviv.

“Success is having people who work for you feel satisfied and happy to come to work,” says Toasted Co-Owner Debra Raviv.

Longtime entrepreneurs Debra and Khen Raviv, co-owners of Toasted, LLC, felt there was a market for a chain of unique, casual sandwich shops in Connecticut. Innovation Destination Harford spoke with Debra about the couple’s entrepreneurial journey and plans for future growth.

IDH: Were you always an entrepreneurial? Did you always know you were going on your own business?

RAVIV: Yes, I was definitely entrepreneurial. I grew up in a household of entrepreneurial parents who ran their own business for 25 years. I went to Syracuse University and post-graduation decided to move to Europe where I trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris.

Then, at 25, a business partner and I opened The Frog & The Peach, which was in Canton, CT. We were there five years. I worked for people in the industry in between each of my own projects. So I have worked for other restauranteurs, but I would say yes, I was kind of laser-focused on having my own business.

IDH: Toasted launched in 2013 as a food truck. You opened the Hartford storefront in 2015. Tell us about that evolution.

RAVIV: After having two full-service restaurants and three kids, Khen and I decided we wanted to do something different. We looked into the quick service restaurant (QSR) industry. I did a lot of research and attended some franchising expos. We liked the flexibility of being able to duplicate a storefront that’s small without table service.

IDH: At what point did you decide we don’t want to do a franchise, we want to do our own thing?

RAVIV: I think there’s a lack of creative control with a franchise; you’re not reaping the full benefits of your hard work. It’s 100 times harder to start your own franchise, for sure. It would have been easier to just buy something. But that’s not always going to make you successful.

We really believed that we had our own idea and we believe there is room for another chain, whether we stay as a corporate-run company or we switch to franchise, I don’t know.

IDH: How did you develop the business concept for Toasted?

RAVIV: We asked ourselves: What’s missing in the market? Where is the food industry going?

The Toasted concept developed because we felt the market was lacking really good sandwiches. We originally planned to open a storefront and have a chain of Toasteds. How we got to the food truck is another story.

We spent six months looking for a location in New Haven—we originally wanted to launch near Yale. We couldn’t find any spaces that were under 2,000 ft.² We spend lot of time in New York City, where there are so many food trucks—that gave us the idea to start with a food truck and test the market before diving into a fixed lease. So we purchased a food truck, had it retrofitted, and decided to launch in Hartford because we live in West Hartford.

When we launched in the spring of 2013 in Bushnell Park we had such a great response. Since then, we have more than 3,000 people following us on Facebook and more than 650 Instagram followers.

Toasted opened its Hartford storefront in 2015.

Toasted opened its Hartford storefront in 2015.

Our next step was opening the storefront. We decided to be a Hartford-based company. About 15 months after the food truck we signed a lease in downtown Hartford. This is our flagship. The reception to having the storefront was even better than the food truck. People absolutely loved it.

IDH: Is the food truck still in operation?

RAVIV: No, we don’t go out daily anymore. We still go out several times a week, but we’ll go to companies like The Hartford and MassMutual, or we do private events at places like UConn Health Hospital or Hartford Hospital.

And then on the weekends we do tons of events. We do all the University of Connecticut football games at Rentschler Field, we are contracted through the food service company. We are inside the stadium, which is a really cool venue.

That’s actually how we got to UConn. We developed so many relationships from being at the UConn football games that we started getting approached by the developers at Storrs Center.

IDH: Tell us more about that.

RAVIV: In September we’re going to open a second location at Storrs Center. That relationship with UConn is really good for us because we are very student-friendly. Because of the food truck events we do at UConn, the students already know who we are. We have a good visibility there.

We also recently signed with IMG, so we’ll be the official sandwich of UConn and we’ll be a UConn sponsor of athletics. That relationship is really big for us because we can use the UConn logo on everything we do.

IDH: Do you have plans for additional locations?

RAVIV: We have ideas. We always had a five-year goal, which was that we want to have a minimum of 10 stores. I think once you pass that second and third location, you’re able to grow more quickly. The first couple locations are challenging because you’re an unknown and it’s hard to negotiate good deals. Once you have two, three, four stores, the people you work with—vendors, landlords—they know you. You become a household name and you start to have more leverage.

We’re looking in New Haven. We always wanted to be near Yale. It’s a really hot area. The casino would be a phenomenal area too, but it’s very tough to get in there. We’re also looking at the southern part of the state, and then beyond that we are thinking of Massachusetts.

IDH: So you’re thinking you will branch out to other states?

RAVIV: Definitely. We would like to be in every state.

Our concept is duplicable. We have all the systems in place in terms of inventory and ordering. We can really be anywhere because we don’t have hot kitchens, which gives us a lot of flexibility. Toasted could be in an airport, a bus or train station, or even a kiosk.

That’s what motivates us—figuring out where we’ll have our next store. The one at UConn is going to be bigger and different, we need to think about what we’ll change compared to the Hartford store. With each location, you get a little better.

IDH: It’s sort of how you innovate.

RAVIV: Exactly.

IDH: How many employees do you have?

RAVIV: Currently, we have about 10. I was director of the Hartford Culinary Arts Academy in 2009. I ran an internship program there with Capital Workforce Partners, where I groomed seniors and placed them in local restaurants. Some of those interns now work at Toasted.

Our staff will probably double or triple with the UConn store opening. Hartford is very corporate, so we’re Monday through Friday, nothing on the weekends except for the truck. UConn will be seven days a week, with late-night hours, and we’re going to do deliveries. So, it looks very different in terms of staffing.

IDH: You mentioned Hartford and how you wanted to have a presence here, why was that important to you?

RAVIV: Hartford fit our demographic. We wanted to be in a corporate, urban, downtown location.

I was born and raised a few miles from here. It felt like this draw to be in Hartford. It just felt like the city needed more local options. And we’re very involved with the city.

IDH: How so?

RAVIV: For example, we’ve had the food truck at Envisionfest Hartford. We help out with non-profits including the Jordan Porco Foundation, The Caliber Foundation, and the Hartford Police Athletic League (PAL)—we feed all the PAL kids during the season.

We are also charitable to organizations in Hartford, for instance we donate gifts to Hartford Young Professionals and Entrepreneurs (HYPE). We’re working to promote the city in any way we can. Any time we can do something in Hartford that’s either helping the city or donating back to the city, we try to be involved.

IDH: And that’s important to you because?

RAVIV: It’s absolutely important because you need to support the community where you have a business. About 90% of our employees come from Hartford. The more we can do to help increase the economic development in the city, the better we feel about it. We feel like we’re helping to contribute to the reviving of the city.

IDH: How do you define success?

RAVIV: The definition of success is not always financial. I think that’s part of it—you definitely want to be financially successful or else your business won’t stay open.

But success for me also means that every day I go to work I feel good about what I do. I like to come to work. It’s also important that our employees like to come to work. So success is having people who work for you feel satisfied and happy to come to work, too.

IDH: Any advice for people starting their own companies?

RAVIV: I didn’t know this when I opened my first restaurant, but my advice would be: You cannot expect success overnight. You have to be patient. And you have to know that it’s a lot of hard work.

I’m a hustler. Last summer we were in the final cut for Shark Tank. In order to do that, you have to be a hustler. You have to be out there every day pounding the pavement, finding the new customers, figuring out what you can do to increase your sales, and also always looking at what’s next.

If you’re not looking at what’s next, your company is not growing. If you’re not growing as a company, you’re dragging. You have to find ways to increase your sales every day. You can’t just sit back and say: I hope people come in. You always have to be out there. It’s constantly changing, there’s always more competition, prices are always going up, and you have to find new ways to reinvent yourself. And that’s a challenge.

Learn more about Toasted by visiting getittoasted.com.

More
1775

Goodwin College and Onyx Spirits Company to Host the Secret Stash Beer Bash Benefiting Scholarships

August 11 2016 Innovation Destination: Hartford At the CT Table 0 comments Tags: Connecticut brewery, CT, entrepreneur, Goodwin College, Onyx Spirits Company, startup breweries

CONNECTICUT BREWERIES COMPETE TO CREATE THE BEST BARREL-AGED BEER

secret-stash-2016Onyx Spirits Company, a Connecticut craft liquor distillery, in partnership with Goodwin College, has announced the second annual Secret Stash Beer Bash to be held at Goodwin College on the Connecticut River August 27, 2016 to benefit student scholarships.

The Secret Stash Beer Bash was the first beer festival to exclusively feature Connecticut breweries producing barrel-aged beers, raising more than $10,000 for Goodwin College’s hardworking students.

The outdoor event will take place on the Goodwin College campus in East Hartford, CT and will feature music, local food, and an exclusive VIP boat cruise for sponsors. General admission tickets are $42 per person and include tastings of all the Secret Stash barrel-aged beers, a Secret Stash pilsner tasting glass, and Onyx Moonshine tastings. Designated Driver tickets are also available for $15 per person and include soft drinks.

“Last year we had almost 500 people on campus for a gorgeous night featuring Connecticut’s own breweries, local food, and music,” said Mark Scheinberg, President of Goodwin College. “We are so fortunate to have this partnership with East Hartford business, Onyx Spirits. They are true ambassadors for the Goodwin community.”

Each participating Connecticut brewery has received one seasoned five-gallon Secret Stash barrel to produce their best barrel-aged beer. The beer from each brewery will be judged by the Secret Stash Beer Bash attendees.

Last year’s winner was Shebeen Brewery from Wolcott, CT. As the winner, they had access to Onyx’s seasoned Secret Stash barrels for one year and they released several limited edition beers. This year’s winner will also partner with Onyx Spirits to release their own unique Secret Stash beer.

And the giving back continues after this year’s Bash! Onyx will be collecting the barrels from each brewery will age a special-edition of Secret Stash Whiskey in them. Each whiskey will have a hint of flavor from the unique barrel-aged brews. Onyx will donate back to the Goodwin College Foundation for every brewery whiskey flight purchased at the Onyx Speakeasy tasting room in East Hartford.

In 2013, Onyx Spirits Co. released Secret Stash, Connecticut’s first barrel aged whiskey. The product has garnered numerous international awards. It is produced using corn, malted grain, and Connecticut Spring water, then aged in five-gallon American oak barrels for more than two years before the barrels are ready for beer.

Find out more and purchase tickets to the event at www.goodwin.edu/secretstash.

About Onyx Moonshine
Onyx Spirits Company redefined American spirits with the release of Onyx Moonshine, the country’s first ultra-premium moonshine, and Secret Stash, New England’s first aged whiskey. Onyx Moonshine was the Official Spirit of the 2012 GRAMMY Awards. The company was voted by Yankee Magazine as the “Best New England Micro-Distillery,” won two gold medals at the 2014 International Craft Awards Competition, and won a triple gold medal at the 2014 Micro Liquor Awards. Learn more at www.onyxmoonshine.com.

Read our interview with entrepreneur Adam von Gootkin, Co-Founder of Onyx Spirits Company. 

About Goodwin College
Goodwin College is an innovative learning community that empowers hard-working students to become sought-after employees. We tailor our programs to address the needs of employers, and we shape them to fit the lives of students. Classes are conveniently offered year-round — days, evenings, weekends, and online. Degrees may be flexibly layered across certificate, associate, and bachelor's programs in a variety of in-demand fields. Better still, we surround our students with the personal support and the professional guidance​ they need — not just to earn degrees, but to change lives for themselves, their families, and their communities. To learn more, visit www.goodwin.edu.

Read our interview with Goodwin College Founding President Mark Scheinberg.

 

 

More
1816

Startup Teahouse Finds Success in West Hartford, CT

July 20 2016 Innovation Destination: Hartford At the CT Table 0 comments Tags: Connecticut, entrepreneur, Green Teahouse, SCORE, startup, West Hartford

Green_Teahouse2

The Green Teahouse is located at 40 Isham Road, Blue Back Square, West Hartford.

Innovation Destination Hartford Website Curator Nan Price recently visited The Green Teahouse in West Hartford Center’s Blue Back Square, where she enjoyed a cup of tea and learned about the startup’s staying power in West Hartford and plans for additional locations in Connecticut.

STARTUP BRINGS TRADITION TO CONNECTICUT

Originally from Chengdu, China, Ting Luo was studying for her Masters in Hospitality Management at the University New Haven Graduate School. She would often bring her tea to class and professors and friends showed interest in the tea she was drinking. They were wanted to learn more about traditional Chinese tea and the culture behind it—which gave Luo the idea to open a teahouse in Connecticut.

Luo says she always knew she wanted to start her own company. She and her brother Wei, who lives in China and is an investor in the Green Teahouse, started the company in 2009.

“My brother and I always enjoyed the tradition of drinking fresh, loose tea. He operates a teahouse in China, so we were familiar with the traditions and values,” explains Luo.

“We study different teas and have developed close relationships with tea providers there. It helped us develop an appreciation for our culture—which became something we wanted to share here in Connecticut, where there isn’t really a tea culture,” she adds.

Luo says she decided to stay in Connecticut because she had built a strong network of friends and colleagues and she saw a market for a teahouse. She chose West Hartford as a location due to the city’s affluence and lifestyle.

“People in this area are looking for things that are healthy,” she notes. “I wanted to introduce some of the culture and health benefits associated with drinking authentic Chinese tea.”

FINDING ITS NICHE

Finding its place in West Hartford’s Blue Back Square has been interesting for Luo. There has been a lot of turnover in Blue Back Square since the shopping area opened in 2008.

“Opening a teahouse was easy, how to survive is key,” says Luo. “We have been successful in this location because we are a unique, specialty store,” she notes. “We have a unique product and we bring unique culture from China.”

The Green Teahouse draws “consciousness people who are seeking a premium, authentic product and experience,” says Luo. “We have a profound knowledge about tea. We know the culture and we enjoy sharing it.”

Sales and Marketing Manager Laree Salmon has been a customer at The Green Teahouse since 2012. “I love this place and I love the tea here,” she says. “It’s a product that’s very good for you, which I think a lot of the customers are realizing, and it also tastes good. It’s nice to enjoy something with a health benefit. You don’t feel so guilty about your pleasure.”

She adds what she thinks gives The Green Teahouse its staying power in Blue Back Square is “the tradition it offers and the Chinese culture Ting is able to bring to the experience. It’s very authentic. We showcase some of the traditional elements like how we prepare the tea.”

The Green Teahouse offers more than 50 varieties of tea.

The Green Teahouse offers more than 50 varieties of tea.

The Green Teahouse offers more than 50 varieties of tea. The store also caters to a Western culture.

“For instance, we offer traditional tea and special blends from fermented and aged pu-erh tea, white tea, green tea, and oolong tea, to Western herbal teas and bubble tea. Customers can find many different types of tea and flavors to get benefits from natural plants and flowers from China and other countries,” explains Salmon.

“In fact, medicinal benefits are important to our customers,” she adds. “Based on Chinese tradition, pu-erh tea may help reduce blood pressure and sugar, it detoxes the body and helps with weight loss, whereas green tea may help to reduce cancer rate and increase immune system and white tea is a beauty aid for anti-aging and helps with skin complexion.”

“We help our customers to ‘find their inner tea.’ We offer something that’s very valuable to their lives, it’s like therapy,” adds Salmon.

“We really focus on our customers,” she emphasizes. “They were the ones who originally requested a sit-down area in the shop where they could relax and enjoy their tea. We do offer cups of tea to go, as well.”

STARTUP MARKETING AND EVOLUTION

Since The Green Teahouse opened, the company has marketed itself through social media and education.

“I’ve gone to schools to give talks about the culture and benefits of tea,” says Luo.

Ting Luo, owner of The Green Teahouse, provided teas for an AIDS Connecticut event at the Governor’s Mansion.

Ting Luo, owner of The Green Teahouse, provided teas for an AIDS Connecticut event at the Governor’s Mansion.

Tea ceremonies, which the store does by appointment, provide one form of education—as well as relaxation.

“The goal is to have people learn about Chinese people’s appreciation for tea and about the thinking that tea can help you develop a pure and peaceful state of mind,” explains Luo.

The Green Teahouse also provides educational talks to businesses as an extension of their health and wellness programs.

“It’s a form of community outreach,” explains Salmon. “I think partnerships are great.”

In March, The Green Teahouse partnered with Field to Face Organics for a “Beau-TEA” party, which Salmon hopes will be the first in a series. “That’s one way of reaching out and working with people in the community,” she says. “We are hoping to work with more health and wellness coaches.”

ADVANCING THE STARTUP

When The Green Teahouse first opened, Luo says her expectation was to share tea culture and “expand our teahouse.” She says her goal is to open in additional locations throughout Connecticut. “But we’ll definitely need help in terms of expertise, advice, and investing.”

STARTUP MENTORING

Luo notes she worked closely with SCORE, a non-profit association supported by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) that provides education and mentorship to help small businesses get up and running.

“We worked with the New Haven and Greater Hartford branches, which were both very helpful,” Luo says.

“If you are starting out and looking for mentoring, SCORE can really help,” she adds. “They gave me advice about finding the best business partner and staff—as just one person it can be very challenging.”

Learn more about The Green Teahouse by visiting www.thegreenteahouse.com.

More
2416

Hartford’s Vintage Cocktail Bar Is a Startup Success Story

June 21 2016 Innovation Destination: Hartford At the CT Table 0 comments

LLR_outsideInnovation Destination Hartford Website Curator Nan Price stopped by Little River Restoratives to meet co-owners Chris Parrott and Patrick Miceli and discuss startups, cocktails, and small business growth in Hartford.

PRICE: How did the idea for Little River Restoratives get off the ground?

PARROTT: Patrick and I met a few years ago while I was doing my wine training for my sommelier certification. Patrick had just opened a restaurant, 50 West in Plainville, CT, so we had a lot of common interests. He would come in to the place I was working and we would talk about trends and business and what’s happening in hospitality. We found out we have a lot of similar viewpoints.

We both saw an emerging market for a cocktail bar in the near future. We were aware of trends in drinking and eating and knew that if we were to do something like that we’d have a good chance of addressing an underserved market and being a unique presence in restaurants and bars. And it’s something we’re both kind of passionate about—I’m a big cocktail buff. I like the history of it.

PRICE: So it was both of your ideas, but did one of you have a stronger inclination?

MICELI: Oh, Chris for sure.

PARROTT: I came in with the idea of a cocktail bar. Patrick loved it immediately. We both knew it was viable as a concept within the hospitality business in the Hartford area. And everything you see here is pretty much an even, cooperative effort.

PRICE: You opened November 1, 2015. Tell me about the growth and business reach since then.

MICELI: We have a large industry following. We don’t do any organized marketing other than social media. We have a $0 budget for marketing. It’s kind of interesting.

PRICE: That seems common. Most of the craft brewers and distilleries we’ve talked to say they don’t focus on doing big flashy ads or anything like that.

MICELI: Exactly.

PARROTT: There’s a value added when you have to seek it out. Something is worth more when you have to find it. If it’s constantly thrown in your face it loses value.

One of the great things about the bar is that we are in this great period right now. It’s cool to say: Hey I found this cocktail bar.

PRICE: That was the buzz I got and how I started to hear about you.

Little River Restoratives co-owners Chris Parrott (left) and Patrick Miceli with Vivian, the mannequin, who is frequently styled by the owner of local business Venom Vintage.

Little River Restoratives co-owners Chris Parrott (left) and Patrick Miceli with Vivian, the mannequin, who is frequently styled by the owner of local business Venom Vintage.

MICELI: The fun thing about doing this—there’s no barometer because it’s a one-of-a-kind concept for this area.

PRICE: Little River Restoratives really is one-of-a-kind. How do you stay innovative?

MICELI: I think you’re always evolving. Chris changes the menu all the time. We always try to keep it interesting. I think we are going to add brunch eventually.

PARROTT: The concept is always evolving. We’ve already implemented two or three events a month. We have pop-up dinners. We’re trying to do one of those every month. We also do themed nights.

Cocktails is a very dynamic culture right now, so it’s hard to stay stagnant. Things are always evolving and changing. It’s kind of easy in a sense to keep changing things when you’re caught up in the wave of change that’s happening around you.

PRICE: Let’s talk about Hartford. Is it important that Little River Restoratives is located here?

PARROTT: Yes it is important. It’s important because Hartford deserves to have at least one solid cocktail bar. Hartford is the capital city of Connecticut and it deserves a more ambitious and adventurous drinking and eating scene. And we want to be a part of that.

It’s a point of pride. And the city has actually been very good to us so far in terms of getting things done.

MICELI: The city has been fantastic.

PARROTT: We didn’t know that going in, but it’s encouraged us to want to do more locations and concepts in Hartford.

PRICE: Can we talk about that a little bit? Did you receive any state funding?

MICELI: We self-financed. We don’t have any investors. We didn’t go to the city for any kind of money. We may for future ventures. We did work hand-in-hand with them for planning and zoning. We had to go for a variance because this space has been zoned residential. The rezoning and variance was quite a process, but the city made it fairly easy for us. They were good to work with.

PRICE: Was the city of Harford supportive in any other ways?

MICELI: When the city heard about our concept they knew nothing like it existed here in Hartford. I think they were looking for something different.

Also, we are younger folks willing to take a risk and I think the city ultimately wants to drive more small business owners downtown. I think that’s a major focus for them right now.

PRICE: You own a separate restaurant, Patrick. How is that in terms of finding balance?

MICELI: There’s no such thing as balance! We’re working on it. It’s a lot of juggling, but at the end of the day it’s about the people you have working with you—your staff. As long as they are solid, it makes it a lot easier.

PRICE: We just shared a laugh about the “balance” part of it. What would you say are the biggest challenges to launching a startup?

PARROTT: Well there’s always the challenge of getting enough people through the door to pay the bills. That’s something you always worry about. However, I don’t want to frame it like that because we don’t worry. We don’t look at it in context of “challenges.” Challenges are getting concepts up and running, but once we’re functioning and we have the right staff in place the challenge part is in the rearview.

We’re looking for the next challenge because you can get to the point where it’s like every detail of what you do is a challenge. For example, a challenge would be different aspects of service being performed meticulously with every guest. So there are intricate challenges within the daily operation, but that’s more the fun part than anything else.

MICELI: I think it’s finding time to develop new concepts. That’s the biggest challenge. We have several things we want to do in the next year or two in Hartford. So the challenge is finding time to really do a brain dump and talk through our ideas.

PARROTT: Managing time, that’s a challenge.

PRICE: So you definitely have plans to open other ventures?

PARROTT: We have ideas for no less than four things that Hartford needs.

PRICE: Can I quote you on that?

PARROTT: Yes. Sure.

PRICE: Will they be similar to Little River Restoratives or completely different?

PARROTT: They are going to be entirely different and they are going to be more food-driven.

MICELI: The principals are the same.

PARROTT: You would know going into one of them though—you would say: I bet you these are the Little River Restoratives guys. So there will be a design elements that are similar.

MICELI: Design elements, hospitality elements, Service elements, stuff like that. We’re excited about that and we think Hartford’s a great place to be.

PRICE: Do you plan to keep all your business ventures in Hartford?

MICELI: Yes.

PRICE: So the plan is to enhance your presence and create more small businesses throughout the area.

MICELI: Right. It’s very important.

PRICE: And when can we expect to see the next venture?

MICELI: Definitely one per year for the next three years. We want get one up and running—if not two—by the end of 2016. Maybe another in 2017. The sooner the better. You have to strike while the iron is hot.

PRICE: With regard to business planning and conceptualizing, do either of you have a business background?

MICELI: I have a background in finance. I worked in the corporate world for quite a long time but I always came back to hospitality, it’s where my love has always been. Entrepreneurship at the end of the day. Not a desk.

PRICE: What about you Chris, did you always have an entrepreneurial streak or know you were going to own your own business?

PARROTT: No, I talked about it for a few years. Bartending is hard. It’s physical work. It’s not something I wanted to see myself doing when I was 50 or 60. So there was only one logical exit strategy, which was owning a bar. It seem like a fun challenge at the time.

With the business plan, it was about three or four years of planning and consideration.

MICELI: He had an extensive business plan and everything. He crunched a lot of numbers.

A busy night at Little River Restoratives Cook and The Bear pop-up event April 19, 2015.

A busy night at Little River Restoratives Cook and The Bear pop-up event April 19, 2015.

PRICE: It seems like it’s very important for you to collaborate with local businesses.

PARROTT: Small businesses help each other by cross exposure. So when Jamie “The Bear” [McDonald of Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ] comes and cooks here, we get exposed to his fan base and vice versa.

I think it’s really important for any small business to figure out how to utilize each other in a fair and equal exchange of cross exposure.
PRICE: It’s like hyperlinking on a website.

PARROTT: It’s hyperlinking in the real world.

PRICE: Any advice for those who are starting out?

PARROTT: Just do it. One of the reasons we are self-financed is because no one thought we would pull this off. But just don’t care. Do whatever it takes. If you truly believe you have a viable concept go ahead, because the worst thing that can happen is it doesn’t work out and you go back to something else.

MICELI: There’s only so much planning you can to. You can write out a business plan until you’re blue in the face, but it all happens when you open the doors.

PARROTT: If you believe in it, find a way to get it done.

PRICE: From what I’ve seen, you’ve been fairly successful.

MICELI: We’re fortunate we have a lot of loyal patrons.

PRICE: So you’re building a good customer base?

PARROTT: It’s only been seven months or so, but we appear to be developing a good regular base. And a growing base too.

We rely very heavily on other restaurants, speaking of exposure. Part of our model is to make sure bartenders and chefs like hanging out here because they have the most intimate access to all of our potential customers.

There’s a challenge: How do you get something good enough to get people to talk about it? Because they’re inclined to not talk as much when it’s good.

We know we’re going to be successful by doing something good enough for other bartenders and chefs to tell others: Little River is a good place to grab an after-dinner drink if you’re looking for something a little different.

We need that. That’s our advertising.

PRICE: Final question: What would you say is the best thing about being part of Hartford’s community?

PARROTT: I think we are first wave. I think it’s really cool. I have always seen Hartford on the verge of growth. I’ve always believed in it. And I think it’s really happening.

Hartford is poised to grow as a small city and become really cool—and necessary by virtue of its proxy to bigger cities that are no longer an accessible option for a lot of young professionals. Being a part of that first wave that I see coming is super cool.

MICELI: The barriers around here are fairly low. You can do things. We did this whole thing in about 55 days, this whole building. If you were in San Francisco or New York, that’s not how it works. Even just securing the liquor license is a really long process. So there are many benefits to being here in Hartford.

Little River Restoratives is located at 405 Capital Avenue in Hartford. The cocktail bar is open Monday through Saturday from 3:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Find out more at www.lrrhartford.com.

More
3972

Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ—Small Business Growth in CT

June 08 2016 Innovation Destination: Hartford At the CT Table 0 comments Tags: Bear’s Smokehouse, community, Connecticut, entrepreneur, Hartford, startup, veterans, Windsor

Jamie and Cheryl McDonald co-founded Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ in 2013.

Jamie and Cheryl McDonald co-founded Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ in 2013.

Innovation Destination Website Curator Nan Price sat down with Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ Co-Founder Jamie “The Bear” McDonald to talk about entrepreneurship, small business ownership, and what it takes to make authentic Kansas City-style BBQ. (Rumor has it, Price stayed for lunch—and didn’t bring home any leftovers.)

The fast-growing restaurant chain, which McDonald co-founded with his wife, Cheryl, has been expanding since 2013 and currently has three locations: Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ in Hartford and Windsor and Bear’s Express in South Windsor.

Construction is currently underway for a Front Street relocation, since the Hartford restaurant has outgrown its Arch Street location. McDonald also signed a lease for a space at Hartford’s Union Station. What’s more, McDonald will be teaming up with Millwright’s chef-owner Tyler Anderson to open a new restaurant, Cook and the Bear, which will be located in West Hartford’s Blue Back Square.

PRICE: In addition to being a competitive eater, have you always had an entrepreneurial side?

McDONALD: I’ve always wanted to own my own business. With starting the restaurants, everything kind of aligned, which allowed the opportunity. It’s going on almost three years now.

PRICE: Right, you launched in 2013.

McDONALD: We started in Windsor at Bart’s Drive-In Restaurant. They allowed us to lease a small area and with very little capital we were able to open the doors. Since day one, it’s just been crazy. We saved every penny we’ve made and used it to finance the buildout for the Arch Street location in Hartford. Then, once these doors were open, we used all the profits to build out the new Windsor spot. We keep continuing that cycle, so at the end of the day, we’re still pretty damn broke! We don’t take home anything. It’s all just reinvested.

PRICE: What kind of work did you do prior to Bear’s?

McDONALD: I worked for United Technologies, mostly in customer service on their aerospace side. The job was technical, so going from that to business ownership is a big difference, but you use all the same principles as any other business. Restaurants just have their own kind of unique spin.

PRICE: Back in 2015, when you received a Business Champions Award for best startup, you mentioned working long hours, seven days a week. Is that still your routine? Has it eased up at all?

McDONALD: No, I’d say it’s probably even more. The workload has changed from just making sure daily operations are happening. Now we have four different spots that are in some phase of construction. That alone keeps me up at night.

PRICE: And you have plans for a food truck too, right?

McDONALD: Yes.

Service with a smile at Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ in Hartford, CT.

Service with a smile at Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ in Hartford, CT.

PRICE: So this is all ramping up for you at the same time.

McDONALD: Yes. It’s all hitting right now through June. We kicked off a lot of stuff by sponsoring the Hartford Yard Goats at the new baseball stadium in Hartford. Left field is ours.

PRICE: So two questions: Will you continue to expand? And, will you always stay in Connecticut?

McDONALD: Yes, as far as expansion goes. Our big push right now is to solidify everything so far and start looking outside of Connecticut in the fall. We’re thinking maybe Boston or Philadelphia—starting to branch out a little and reach bigger markets.

PRICE: Why was it important for you to have a presence in Hartford?

McDONALD: Because Hartford is expanding. Cheryl worked for a Hartford school district, so she used to drive by Arch Street all the time. She knew that the UConn campus was coming to downtown Hartford, and it just seemed like a good opportunity.

I would’ve never thought when we signed this lease about two years ago that two years later we’d be moving out to a larger space.

PRICE: Speaking of Hartford, you’re involved a lot throughout the community.

McDONALD: I think that is part of how we’ve grown so fast. With the product, you have to have the basics down, but I’ve always believed in corporate responsibility. At the end of the day, the community should benefit just as much from having your business be a part of the community as you do from being there.

It’s all about supporting various charities—especially the local charities—and giving back in that way. For example, we support Open Hearth, a housing and homeless shelter in Hartford, we do a lot of work with them, helping transition folks out of the halfway house. It keeps us busy.

PRICE: You’re also very involved with supporting veterans.

McDONALD: Yes. I served in the Navy, so that’s an important cause for me. Last year we worked to raise money for K9s For Warriors, which provides service dogs for veterans suffering from post 9-11 Post-traumatic Stress Disability or traumatic brain injury.

This year, we are proudly sponsoring free admission for all U.S. veterans and their families for the Travelers Championship.

Nan Price’s lunch at Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ in Harford, CT.

Nan Price’s lunch at Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ in Harford, CT.

PRICE: Bear’s Smokehouse posts some mouth-watering photos on Facebook and Instagram. In terms of marketing, does social media play a key role?

McDONALD: As far as marketing efforts, we don’t really do any traditional print marketing.

I think small businesses—really any type of business—should be taking full advantage of social media. Facebook isn’t really free anymore; you have to pay to get people to see your posts, but it’s a great tool.

PRICE: Let’s talk about supply and demand. You’re well beyond your original five-year plan. When you don’t plan for that growth rate, how do you meet the demand?

McDONALD: You don’t!

And that’s what people start to figure out. We want to run out of food every day. Some days we’re so busy. It just kind it is what it is. It’s not like a normal restaurant where you can make some more sandwiches or throw another hamburger on, with barbecue everything is paced. We load the smokers at four o’clock in the afternoon, the process is about 24-hours.

PRICE: And it started from your love of genuine Kansas-style barbecue?

McDONALD: My love of food and I like feeding people.

PRICE: Can you discuss any entrepreneurial challenges?

McDONALD: It’s really about finding a good team. Our employees represent the business when I’m not here. If they’re not doing a good job, it doesn’t matter how good the food is, people don’t want bad service.

If you’re going to be an entrepreneur it’s not easy, it’s a sacrifice. You have to be willing to put everything on the line for it.

Even with how busy we are, because we have so much going on with construction and everything else, we’ve cashed in all of our life savings, our 401(k)s, everything to keep the business going. There are times when it was sketchy, but you have to make it over that hump and keep pushing through. That’s the point where I think a lot of businesses fail, they give up too soon.

As far as food, in the restaurant business it’s all about diversifying and being involved a lot. We are out at stadiums and different events. We’ll be out in the food truck. We’re catering. You have to take advantage of any way you can get your food out, you can’t rely on walk-in sales.

Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ Co-Founders Jamie and Cheryl McDonald stand in front of a mural painted by local artist Tao LaBossiere.

Bear’s Smokehouse BBQ Co-Founders Jamie and Cheryl McDonald stand in front of a mural painted by local artist Tao LaBossiere.

Some days it’s slow for no reason, it could be a beautiful day out and it’s just slow. The first thing that crosses your mind then as a business owner is: Oh my God everybody hates us! Or we could have a random day where it’s just slammed. There’s really no rhyme or reason.

PRICE: Any other words of wisdom?

McDONALD: The only other advice I can say is, if you see an opportunity you’ve got to jump on it. You can’t wait until you think the time is perfect. It’s never going to be perfect. All your ducks are never going to be in a row.

Union Station is a good example. They put the space up for bid for proposals and I found out about it the day before proposals were due. I looked at it, did some brainstorming, and said: You know what? Let’s do it. We jumped on it, and now the space is ours. Now I’ve just got to get it working!

PRICE: You seem like the type of person who thrives on simultaneously juggling projects.

McDONALD: Yes. That’s where Cheryl and I really do well together. She’s very detail orientated whereas I am not at all. I like to just keep going, going, going. You have to have a balance like that. It’s going really well.

To learn more about Bear’s Smokehouse, visit bearsbbq.com.

More
3435

Entrepreneur Brewers: Broad Brook Brewing Company

May 24 2016 Innovation Destination: Hartford At the CT Table 0 comments Tags: Broad Brook Brewing Company, Connecticut, entrepreneurs, small business, startup brewing

Innovation Destination Hartford Website Curator Nan Price and MetroHartford Alliance Director of Economic Development John Shemo enjoyed meeting the team and touring Broad Brook Brewing Company in East Windsor, CT.

Broad Brook Co-Founders Eric Mance (left) and Tom Rossing (right) with Sales/Promotion Coordinator Jackie Lanagan (center).

Broad Brook Co-Founders Eric Mance (left) and Tom Rossing (right) with Sales/Promotion Coordinator Jackie Lanagan (center).

Co-Founders Tom Rossing and Eric Mance shared some of the challenges it takes to get a brewery up and running and Sales/Promotion Coordinator Jackie Lanagan discussed some of the ways Broad Brook Brewing is giving back to the community.

PRICE: Whose idea was it to open a brewery?

ROSSING: The whole thing started at my house in Broad Brook, CT, which is how we came up with the name. I was brewing and Joe Dealba (who is now a Partner/Brewer) started helping out a little bit. Eric joined in and he and I started experimenting with more recipes.

Eventually, we started entering competitions because we wanted to see how good our beer was. We started winning ribbons all over the country. At that point, we realized our beer was good enough for the market, Eric started putting together a business plan, and here we are.

PRICE: What was your mission at the outset?

ROSSING:From the beginning, our basic goal was to put out good-quality, drinkable beer. We wanted to make beer styles people would like and something for everybody.

PRICE: Eric, Tom, do either of you have any business background?

ROSSING: I worked construction. I had my own roofing company. I worked for myself for a lot of years and so did Eric. So it wasn’t like we didn’t know what it takes to run a business.

MANCE: Right. I grew up in a small business environment. My family owns a printing business in Massachusetts. I started my own network consulting business in 2000, which I still operate.

LANAGAN: I love that about them—they were homebrewers with backgrounds in construction, printing, and computers. They had never dealt with the bars, restaurants, package stores. And they’re doing awesome.

PRICE: Let’s talk about the timeline. According to your website, in July 2011 you set a goal to open a brewery. When did you actually open?

Broad Brook Brewing Company has a 240-member mug club—which sold out right away.

Broad Brook Brewing Company has a 240-member mug club—which sold out right away.

ROSSING: We opened in October 2013. But, it was actually July 4, 2011 when we really got going. We stopped competitions at that time because we already knew the beer was good. Then we started getting involved with the CT Beer Trail and doing tastings. By doing the tastings, people were able to meet us and try the beer. It was also great marketing.

PRICE:But at this point, you weren’t actually a full-fledged brewery, correct?

ROSSING: Correct. We spent two years marketing ourselves by making beer, going out and presenting it to people at all these different tastings. We marketed ourselves as homebrewers—we couldn’t sell a drop.

MANCE: We were trying to build a brand and a name before we could even legally sell anything. So we would brew beer on the weekends and then we would find places we could serve it to the public as homebrewers. We kept getting better and better reactions from people, which helped solidify the business concept.

ROSSING: But we also hit the ground running.

MANCE: The day we opened we had a following. People were waiting for us to open because they already knew about the beer.

PRICE: Let’s talk about the business growth and reach. Are you only distributing in Connecticut?

ROSSING: We’re distributing in the entire state of Connecticut and western Massachusetts.

PRICE: And what are your future plans? Do you plan to distribute further?

ROSSING: Yes, we plan on going further east into Massachusetts and probably north into Vermont.

MANCE: We probably have to grow into another facility because we’re running out of space.

ROSSING: We’re maxing out at this facility. We’ve been swapping 15-barrel for 30-barrel tanks. You have to meet your demand. Going out of stock is never a good thing. If your product keeps going out of stock you’ll lose your tap lines. The stores don’t like it and neither do the customers.

We’re meeting our goals, as far as our growth, which went faster than we anticipated. We’re keeping up and we want to continue to keep up so we don’t run out of stock.

PRICE: When you talk about your goals, clearly you sat down and had a business plan with milestones you wanted to reach.

Broad_Brook_BarrelsMANCE: Yes. And we are exceeding those—far exceeding those.

LANAGAN: And like Eric said, right now we’re looking at southern Vermont and eastern Massachusetts. We’ll choose a couple of events, see how we do there, and test the market that way.

PRICE: Speaking of marketing, you’re obviously still going to events. Are you still doing tastings?

LANAGAN: Absolutely. We’re at package stores, festivals, events, beer dinners. We also rely on social media.

PRICE: You also get the word out through a lot of charity events.

LANAGAN: A lot of the events we do are nonprofit. I would say 70% of the events that we do outside of the building are charity-related. We give to the MS Society, Boys and Girls Club, Wounded Warriors, and Five Corner Cupboard, to name a few.

We’re also involved with the Thread City Hop Fest, which is organized by Willimantic Brewery. The annual event features more than 40 local brewers and proceeds benefit local charities.

PRICE: We talked a little bit about supply and demand as being a challenge. What other challenges have you encountered as a startup and do you have any advice for those who are starting out?

MANCE: Good luck!

ROSSING: It seems nowadays everybody thinks that it’s the goose that laid the golden egg. They’ll do the social media but really they need to get out and meet people too. It’s not as easy as it all seems.

And you should probably test market your product so you know what you need to do or what you need to improve on before you actually open your brewery.

SHEMO: Any challenges around distribution?

LANAGAN: We have five different distributors, so with each area there are different challenges. Every area has different styles of beer they are looking for and there are different types of people, so you have to adjust according to the area you’re distributing to.

SHEMO: Who distributes for you in Western Massachusetts?

LANAGAN: It’s commercial distribution.

SHEMO: Is distributing out of state an additional challenge?

LANAGAN: It’s different. There are different laws.

MANCE: There’s more paperwork and additional licensing.

ROSSING: The biggest thing isn’t if you have a good product or you have a good taproom or you have good bottling, that’s not it, but the distribution is. It’s a whole different beast.

LANAGAN: We’re lucky, they chose great distributors for each area. They’re all working pretty well for us.

SHEMO: How about availability of hops? How does that work for you?

ROSSING: You’ve got to guess and you’ve got to plan ahead. As a new brewery, that’s a difficult thing. If you’re homebrewing you have availability to all the different hops. Once you start getting to this level, you need contracts and then there’s spot buying. You’ve got to plan years ahead and figure out what you might need. Then if the supplies you want aren’t available, you have to change your recipe and figure out how you’re going to cross-reference things to make things work based on what you can actually get.

SHEMO: So this is a big deal?

ROSSING: Oh, it is a big deal.

MANCE: There’s a lot of variation year-to-year with the yield and the quality of the hops themselves. So there are those challenges as well.

ROSSING: So basically if you’re going to do it, do your homework.

MANCE: Yes, just prepare as much as possible.

ROSSING: What’s that expression? Double your timeframe and triple your budget. It’s a whole big adventure.

MANCE: But once you’re there and everything is going well, it’s worth it.

PRICE: Do you feel like that messy part is kind of behind you now, two years in?

ROSSING: Absolutely. We’re stable. We know what’s going on. We know the process now too if we have to get something approved.

When you’re starting out, you really have to be ready. You have to be very proactive, on top of everything, and willing to sacrifice a lot of time and effort. Just like any other startup.

And reinvest your capital. If you see money coming and you just keep taking it, you’re never going to grow. That’s a mistake a lot of people make in the beginning. Capital improvement is huge, especially in the very beginning.

This business is recession-proof. When times are good people drink; when times are bad they drink some more. Craft beer is growing and increasing its growth percentages every year. It’s a good thing, people like it, and I think it’s here to stay.

PRICE: There’s definitely a demand for it.

LANAGAN: In the meantime, they’re helping local businesses around them too. A lot of the work they’ve done in the tasting room is from local people.

MANCE: It’s a small business mentality: I’ll help you, you help me, and we all help each other. We’ll help the community too, as we go down that road.

Find out more about Broad Brook Brewing, visit http://broadbrookbrewing.

More
3501

Get Started


  Find Resources   Browse Startups   View Events   Book a Mentor

Get Engaged


Do you have a Hartford success story? Are you a budding startup or a successful entrepreneur eager to share your experiences? Contact us today and tell your story!

  Contact Us   Get Our Newsletter
ctstartup-logo
The CTStartup Podcast provides an inside perspective on the Connecticut startup ecosystem from the people working in it.

  Listen Now

Categories

Get Started

  Find Resources   Browse Startups   View Events   Book a Mentor

Get Engaged

Do you have a Hartford success story? Are you a budding startup or a successful entrepreneur eager to share your experiences? Contact us today and tell your story!

  Contact Us   Get Our Newsletter

CT Startup Podcast

The CTStartup Podcast provides an inside perspective on the Connecticut startup ecosystem from the people working in it.

  Listen Now

About IDH

Innovation Destination: Hartford is designed to showcase and serve the Greater Hartford region’s entrepreneurial community.

Check out new Connecticut-area startups, entrepreneurs, events and the various players that make up our entrepreneurial community. You’ll find the resources you’ll need to start and grow your business and discover why the Hartford region is a great place to live, work and make an impact!

Copyright © 2015-2019 Innovation Destination: Hartford. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy
Developed by Novus Insight, Inc.